Scottish Government minister resigns over ‘inappropriate behaviour’

[Parklife]

11 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

every single word you wrote is nonsense, you tried to keep an argument going from another thread so I told you to eff off and wait in the other thread.

You seem to have made the mistake of thinking your the TAMB police. You're not, you don't get to tell me, nor anyone else, what to do. 

11 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

ah, the parkie default. "put me on ignore if you don't like my posts".

Pretty logical. You seem to be getting fair worked up about nothing. If this is the state you get yourself in to, maybe you should try a bit of self-exclusion. 

11 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

As I've said before, you could maybe take a look at yourself and stop being an argumentative ##### but that would be asking too much of you. How does life feel up on that high horse of yours?

No high-horse here. Asking someone to clarify nonsense they posted doesn't put me on a high horse. 

11 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

I'll clarify now, I would have no issue telling you that you are a sanctimonious argumentative twat if you were sitting right next to me. The only reason you say I wouldn't is because you want to some how save face with people on here. 

You've just proven you know nothing about me. I care not one jot what any poster on here thinks of me. I know who and what i am and i'm damn proud of it. What some loser like yourself thinks about me doesn't bother me at all. 

Now, i'm going to bow out of this mind-numbingly dull discussion, you can continue with your insults though, tough guy   

[vanderark14]

17 minutes ago, Parklife said:

You seem to have made the mistake of thinking your the TAMB police. You're not, you don't get to tell me, nor anyone else, what to do. 

Pretty logical. You seem to be getting fair worked up about nothing. If this is the state you get yourself in to, maybe you should try a bit of self-exclusion. 

No high-horse here. Asking someone to clarify nonsense they posted doesn't put me on a high horse. 

You've just proven you know nothing about me. I care not one jot what any poster on here thinks of me. I know who and what i am and i'm damn proud of it. What some loser like yourself thinks about me doesn't bother me at all. 

Now, i'm going to bow out of this mind-numbingly dull discussion, you can continue with your insults though, tough guy   

whos in a state? are you now qualified to judge my mental state from Falkirk and from my posts on here? 

you're such a hypocrite..................................you insult people and then throw the toys out when you get it back. I'm not acting tough, you're the one who said I'm only saying this because I am behind a computer, I only replied explaining thats not the case and now I'm the tough guy 

on one hand you are greeting about me knowing nothing about you and right after this you call me a loser when you know all about me. Thanks for proving the point I've always made about you, you're a big baby who can throw it around but can't take it when you are questioned. 

 

Edited November 6, 2017 by vanderark14

[JasMc1973]

That escalated quickly.... can we have a poll on which of these two is the biggest fanny?

 

Or is that inappropriate these days?

 

[vanderark14]

1 minute ago, JasMc1973 said:

That escalated quickly.... can we have a poll on which of these two is the biggest fanny?

 

Or is that inappropriate these days?

 

I apologise for derailing the thread 

the guy just gets on my tits with his hypocrisy.

 

[TDYER63]

Nicola has just tweeted asking you both to keep up the good work 👍

[Ally Bongo]

Have to agree with Vanderark on this one 

The board was actually starting to improve the last couple of weeks with his post's reducing. 

[PapofGlencoe]

still no real clue what this guy is meant to have done.  I think if it's so bad constituents should know.

 

[Ormond]

Two sheep going at it is as funny as it gets on here.  Although, Vander just blurting out for somebody to fvck off did start it. 

[Ally Bongo]

5 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

Have to agree with Vanderark on this one 

The board was actually starting to improve the last couple of weeks with his post's reducing. 

Feel guilty

I just said that to annoy him - havent been reading the board much

[Orraloon]

1 hour ago, Ally Bongo said:

- havent been reading the board much

Maybe that's why it's been starting to improve?

[Mox]

On 05/11/2017 at 6:38 PM, phart said:

 

 

I'm glad we have sensible posters on here.

Keep your distance , Scotland isn't too bad, on the continent you have to kiss cheeks and everything.

You just need to nod or make eye contact to acknowledge someone.

So I smacked him in the head and downed another Carling 
Bada Bada Bing for the lad's like

[Alibi]

I'm surprised that no details of this guy's alleged indiscretions have appeared.  Usually the press would be all over it but maybe it turns out it's something laughably trivial and they would look daft pursuing it when there are so may more serious incidents coming out.

[phart]

Seems Priti Patel is running a shadow arm of the government for the Israeli Government not the British and when caught nothing happens. We're losing our own sovereignty here. Trying to appropriate funds for the illegal settlements that we as a country don't even recognise.

Boris Johnson fecking up sensitive court preceedings as well i see.

[Toepoke]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-41904161

 

[Orraloon]

3 hours ago, phart said:

Seems Priti Patel is running a shadow arm of the government for the Israeli Government not the British and when caught nothing happens. We're losing our own sovereignty here. Trying to appropriate funds for the illegal settlements that we as a country don't even recognise.

Boris Johnson fecking up sensitive court preceedings as well i see.

I had wondered if they would try to use this whole Gropegate thing to try to divert our attention from other horrible shit that they might be up to. I mean, how can anybody, never mind a government minister, think that using UK tax money to help out the Israeli military would be a good idea. I suppose we weren't meant to find out about it, right enough.

[phart]

15 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I had wondered if they would try to use this whole Gropegate thing to try to divert our attention from other horrible shit that they might be up to. I mean, how can anybody, never mind a government minister, think that using UK tax money to help out the Israeli military would be a good idea. I suppose we weren't meant to find out about it, right enough.

Liam fox is defending her, he had to resign in 2011, cause of relations with Israeli lobbying firms. He got back into power though.

Adam Werritty, the Defence Secretary's unofficial "adviser", was funded by a corporate intelligence company and the chairman of an Israeli lobbying organisation, documents have disclosed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8826133/Adam-Werritty-Liam-Foxs-friend-bankrolled-by-corporate-intelligence-firm-and-Israel-lobbyist.html

Then we had the stuff at the start of the year

• Israeli Embassy made vow to ‘take down’ Foreign Office deputy Sir Alan Duncan
• Bombshell footage covertly filmed in restaurant, obtained by Mail on Sunday
• Senior diplomat is egged on by a senior aide to another Conservative Minister

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4098082/Astonishing-undercover-video-captures-diplomat-conspiring-rival-MP-s-aide-smear-Deputy-Foreign-Secretary.html

Edited November 7, 2017 by phart

[phart]

8 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I had wondered if they would try to use this whole Gropegate thing to try to divert our attention from other horrible shit that they might be up to. I mean, how can anybody, never mind a government minister, think that using UK tax money to help out the Israeli military would be a good idea. I suppose we weren't meant to find out about it, right enough.

It's crazy it was to fund "Syrian refugee camps" in Israel which are actually safe havens for ISIS.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-giving-secret-aid-syrian-rebels-bashar-al-assad-golah-heights-hezbollah-fursan-al-joulan-a7797151.html

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon attends an IDF exercise on May 7, 2015 (Diana Hananshvili/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Monday that Israel has been providing aid to Syrian rebels, thus keeping the Druze in Syria out of immediate danger. Israeli officials have previously balked at confirming on the record that the country has been helping forces that are fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/yaalon-syrian-rebels-keeping-druze-safe-in-exchange-for-israeli-aid/

Trump already blew the whistle on what has really been going on in Syria.

WASHINGTON — The end came quickly for one of the costliest covert action programs in the history of the C.I.A.

During a White House briefing early last month, the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, recommended to President Trump that he shut down a four-year-old effort to arm and train Syrian rebels. The president swiftly ended the program.

The rebel army was by then a shell, hollowed out by more than a year of bombing by Russian planes and confined to ever-shrinking patches of Syria that government troops had not reconquered. Critics in Congress had complained for years about the costs — more than $1 billion over the life of the program — and reports that some of the C.I.A.-supplied weapons had ended up in the hands of a rebel group tied to Al Qaeda further sapped political support for the program.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/middleeast/cia-syria-rebel-arm-train-trump.html

So secretly agreeing funding to Israeli army ISIS Camps on the Golan Heights (which the international community doesn't recognise as they were taken in 1968) and then lying about it. Now instead of being in parliament to answer.

May can't even chastise her, the government is the weakest it has ever been in my lifetime.

[phart]

I shouldn't have started looking at the news today. It just ends up annoying me and moving me our of my zen state.

 

[Ally Bongo]

Took their time but Priti about to be sacked

[jockodile]

not a fan of Priti's right wing Brexit rhetoric, but she does have an appropriate name it must be said.

[aaid]

Track Priti's journey to the sack here.

https://www.flightradar24.com/KQA100/f76cdcf

[McDange]

How can all these politicians that are suddenly resigning keep their jobs as MPs / MSPs? Surely if their conduct has fallen short of what's expected of them, they should step down from these gigs too? 

Constituents need the power to boot representatives out 

[phart]

For the second time in less than a year, Israeli efforts to discreetly influence British policy has been disclosed.

In January, the embassy official Shai Masot was caught in an al-Jazeera sting to “take down” politicians regarded as unfriendly to Israel. This time a bigger fish has been caught: the UK’s international development secretary, Priti Patel.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/08/priti-patel-israel-trip-analysis-uk-foreign-policy

 

Totally dodgy as feck. Got to watch for lobbying to buy influence. Interestingly Tom Watson is suggesting this was done with at least some foreknowledge as Priti did meet consular staff, so it's possible this was a covert meeting set up by the government with plausible deniability if they got caught, as happened.

Edited November 8, 2017 by phart

[aaid]

17 hours ago, phart said:

For the second time in less than a year, Israeli efforts to discreetly influence British policy has been disclosed.

In January, the embassy official Shai Masot was caught in an al-Jazeera sting to “take down” politicians regarded as unfriendly to Israel. This time a bigger fish has been caught: the UK’s international development secretary, Priti Patel.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/08/priti-patel-israel-trip-analysis-uk-foreign-policy

 

Totally dodgy as feck. Got to watch for lobbying to buy influence. Interestingly Tom Watson is suggesting this was done with at least some foreknowledge as Priti did meet consular staff, so it's possible this was a covert meeting set up by the government with plausible deniability if they got caught, as happened.

I'm not quite sure why the UK government would want to - or need to - set up covert meetings with the Israeli government that they see as friendly and a strategic ally, I'm pretty sure they discuss all sorts of dubious shit on a regular basis through the usual channels.

If they did want to use a cutout then I doubt very much it would be a serving cabinet minister. 

Priti Patel was an interesting choice for International Development when May took over given that she - Patel - had previously been on the record as stating thing we should get rid of the department and the international aid budget.  
I thought at the time that her appointment was largely to do with getting some hardline brexiteers in the cabinet and obviously it ticks some boxes given her gender and ethnicity.  Sticking her in DiFID should have meant she was largely out of the way and unable to do any real damage.   A decision that shows up May's great judgement once more.  She looks increasingly like someone promoted above their ability - that could refer to both May and Patel.

I'm prepared to buy the argument that she'd "gone rogue" and was trying to widen out her role at DiFID and hence her own profile and importance and royally screwed up.  That certainly fits her character.

As for Tom Watson's point, first of all, there's nothing suspicious at all that she was in contact with the consulate.  I'd expect that all embassies and consulates are informed as a matter of course when any government officials are in their territories - even if all they are lying on the beach at Eilat for a fortnight.    I've also heard criticism of Ministers and MPs who think British Embassies are their own private concierge services when on holiday.

On top of that, I'd also be amazed if the FCO weren't aware of - either in advance, at the time, or shortly afterwards - about the meetings Patel was having.  However, that probably wasn't through Priti Patel or her office informing them through the usual channels but more likely because MI6 - who report into the FCO - would have known about it, it would be staggering to think that they didn't.

If there is any skullduggery going on, I'd expect that it was the FCO who tipped off the BBC - who broke the story last week - and saw it as an opportunity to put DiFID in it's place and get rid of a minister who they felt was getting too big for her boots.

[biffer]

Is it just me or does the ScotGov guy who stood down look like Sick Boy got fat and stopped bleaching his hair?